Re: Discovery Makes A Fine Flight Up



Herb Schaltegger wrote:

As they mentioned in the briefing yesterday, they have no idea yet about that piece of debris. It could have happened dozens of times before or never; until they identify and analyze it further (and probably use ET Cam's on the rest of the scheduled flights) they won't know how anomalous that particular debris incident really was. That's not to say how SERIOUS it might be, just how common or uncommon.



Assuming it's the lower PAL ramp (and it sure looks like the lower PAL ramp, based on this image:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/104632main_99600main_PAL_Ramp_8-12-04_720x480.jpg
and where the debris was seen emanating from on the ET)
Then you'd have a chunk of foam with a substantial metal (or is it plastic?) strip attached to it, which could be a pretty damaging thing to have flying free under the orbiter's belly. If you look closely at the metal strip that runs along side of the PAL, it looks like it thins down where it passes under that "C" fitting that's attached to the ET's exterior, and at its front end attachment point. Could it have snapped or come free at one of those points, and peeled off of the tank's exterior?
(you can download a huge version of that image here: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/104631main_99600main_PAL_Ramp_8-12-04_3000x2000.jpg )
If they were considering redesigning this, then it must have caused problems on earlier flights- does anyone know where you can download imagery of all the jettisoned ETs from other flights, so one could have a gander at this area?

Pat
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